1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a protective case for one or more credit cards or similar.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98.
A credit card or similar consists of a plate of a plastic material with standardised dimensions, namely 85.60×53.98 mm, with characters embossed into it, and generally including a magnetic stripe and/or a smart chip.
Due to its relative flexibility and the presence of a magnetic stripe and/or a smart chip, it is preferable to keep the card in a protected place, so that it is not damaged and remains functional.
Accordingly a credit card or similar is usually kept in a card holder or wallet, which means having to carry a card holder or wallet, which is not always possible.
To overcome this drawback, rigid protective cases have been proposed for one credit card or similar, the simplest of them consisting of a flat envelope, comprising two parallel walls between which there is provided a space intended to accommodate the card to be protected, and provided at one end with an opening through which said card can be inserted or extracted, one of said walls comprising an opening through which the user can push said card with his finger in order to extract it. Such a case is described for example in patent EP 0 677 257.
Cases are also known comprising two parts, one of which contains the card and slides inside the other like a drawer. Such a case is described for example in patent FR 2 893 233.
Whatever the case proposed, it raises the problem of the physical integrity of the card it contains. Indeed, whether the card is in a case according to patent EP 0 677 257 or in a case according to patent FR 2 893 233, it is necessary, to hold it in its housing, to exert some pressure in the direction of the thickness of the cards, and in actual fact this involves pressing on the raised elements formed by embossing, with the disadvantage that eventually this risks damaging the card. In patent FR 2 893 233 this pressure is exerted by a corrugation, in the transverse direction, in the drawer containing the card, whilst in patent EP 0 677 257, this pressure is exerted by longitudinal protuberances on the inner surfaces.
Another drawback of protective cases for a credit card or similar is that they are design to store only one card, whereas it is common to possess more than one. The above-mentioned patents do not provide for an adaptation enabling the storage of more than one card.
Cases do exist that are capable of storing several cards, and they each consist of a box with a housing in which the cards are stacked.
To overcome this drawback, cases have been proposed that may contain more than one card, as is the case for example of the cases described in patents WO 96/18320 and EP 0 287 532. These cases each consist of a box with a housing in which the cards are stacked.
In patent WO 96/18320, the case can contain two cards, which are extracted manually through an opening provided in each of the side walls of the case, in a similar way to what is described in patent EP 0 677 257.
The aim of a case being mainly to protect the cards, the fact that it includes one or more openings means that it cannot entirely fulfil its function.
In patent EP 0 287 532, a case is proposed in which several cards are stacked, and which has at the back a mobile lever, which can be operated from the outside, and whose part intended to be in contact with the cards is stepped, so that in a single movement all the cards emerge in a tiered array. Once again, the cards can be damaged as they are in contact with one another. Moreover, after a middle card is removed, it is not easy to put it back in its place, as this requires the cards on either side of its location to be prised apart.
The prior art also includes, thanks to patent US 2005/224149, a card distributor comprising a box consisting of two parts slidably assembled, on whose inner lateral edges are formed parallel lips designed to serve as sliders for the cards, which can be extracted by sliding after activating a push button. This device is more of a distributor than a case, and it is very voluminous, in particular due to the card extraction mechanism.